Motor scooters have long been used as an inexpensive means of transporation. The typical motor scooter includes a front and rear wheel, an engine supplying power to the rear wheel, a means of stearing the front wheel and a platform for the user to stand on. In larger size scooters a seat is also employed. Scooters of this type are exceedingly useful and popular, however, they have certain limitations which this invention overcomes. One problem with known type of scooters is that they are universally too bulky and heavy to be easily transported. For instance, the typical scooter is too heavy for a user to lift into and out of a vehicle, such as a car, pick-up, trailer or motor home. Presently used scooters are too heavy and bulky to be carried on and off an airplane by a user and are too heavy and bulky to be used as a personal conveyance by travelers.
An object of the present invention is to provide an extremely light-weight, compact, quiet, and easy to use scooter which can be easily carried by an individual or which can be pulled along by an individual with convenience and which can be easily loaded into a vehicle or airplane.
To achieve the light-weight, compact, quiet, and easily transportable characteristics of the present invention a unique combination of structural features is employed. The improved motor scooter of this invention has an elongated generally horizontal frame member having a forward end and a rearward end. A rear drive wheel is secured to the frame member rearward end and mounted for rotation about an axis which is normal to the vertical plane of the frame member.
A generally vertical tubular support member is secured to the frame forward end in a vertical plane of the frame member. Received within the vertical tubular support member is a strut member which rotates relative to the tubular support member. The lower end of the strut member is in the form of a yoke and rotatably receives a front wheel. The upper end of the strut member extends above the yoke member.
A horizontal platform is secured to the frame member between the front and rear wheels permitting the user to stand on the platform while the motor scooter is in motion.
An engine, such as a light-weight gasoline engine, either 2 cycle or 4 cycle, with 2 cycle being preferred because of its light-weight and compactness. The engine has a drive shaft extending therefrom and means is provided to couple the engine drive shaft to the rear wheel.
An elongated handle member has the lower end thereof pivotally secured to the upper end of the strut member so that it pivots in a vertical plane relative to the strut member. The handle member has a horizontal handle bar affixed to the upper end thereof.
The handle member can be locked in axial alignment to the strut member, thereby permitting the user to guide the motor scooter by rotation of the handle member which in turn rotates the strut member and thereby the front wheel. The handle member can also be unlocked relative to the strut member and pivoted forwardly allowing the user to pull the motor scooter behind him. In another position the handle member may be pivoted rearwardly to lie over substantially parallel the tubular frame member and when locked in such position allows the user to easily carry the motor scooter by grasping the horizontally extending handle.
For locking the handle member to the strut member in axial alignment, a tubular sleeve is slideably received on the handle member. When the handle and the strut member are in axial alignment, the tubular sleeve is slid downwardly locking these two elements together. When the sleeve is slid upwardly, the handle may then be pivoted relative to the strut member.
To provide for compactness, and low weight, one feature of the invention is the use of the tubular frame member as a muffler. The exhaust port of the engine is coupled to the frame adjacent the rearward end thereof. One or more small diameter openings in the frame permits exhaust flow therefrom and thereby permits the frame to function as a muffler.
The combination of the tubular frame and resilient pads positioned between the platform and the mounting brackets secured to the frame provide a shock-absorbing rider support system.
Another feature of the invention is the unique, compact and simple means of coupling the rotation of the engine to the rear wheel. This is accomplished by means of a hydraulic torque converter employing rotating concentric elements, coupled to each other by a thixotropic hydraulic fluid.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be described in greater detail in the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.